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Swiss Mobile Network Operator Orange favors Materna's SMS Services

Dortmund, April 13, 2000. Orange Communications SA, Switzerlandshighest-growth network operator, has decided to go with the "Anny Way" value-added services palette offered by software vendor MATERNA Information & Communications. With 300 million short messages sent each month, the Dortmund-based software company is already the worlds Short Message Service (SMS) market leader. With Maternas Anny Way services, all mobile phone
users can take advantage of an extensive range of information offerings, from regional services all the way to innovative entertainment products.

Anny Way is establishing itself as Maternas first brand name for integrated value-added services in the communications industry.

Round-the-clock news available wherever you take your mobile phone:

"Orange Info" now makes the most up-to-date news, sports, weather, leisure, financial, and travel information available for retrieval via SMS. In addition, young people especially enjoy downloading ringtones and pictures (picture messaging). A range of new ringtones and picture messages make each mobile phone even more unique and individual for Oranges customers.

Materna handles all of the outsourcing of these services for Orange, operates them at its own information processing center in Dortmund, and is connected to Orange Nokia SMSC. Materna is the general contractor for Orange. As such, Materna is responsible for obtaining the Swiss subcontractors who will provide the content, such as Swiss TXT.

MATERNA Information & Communications
The Materna Group is one of the leading German software vendors in the field of information and communications technology. Materna currently has a staff of more than 900 people throughout Europe. In its 1999 business year, the
Materna Group achieved revenues of 252 million German marks. In addition to its headquarters in Dortmund, the company has branch offices and subsidiaries throughout the Federal Republic of Germany and is present in France, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, and Hong Kong. Maternas range of services includes products, solutions, and services based on e-solutions (e-business, e-customer relationship management, e-management), mobile solutions (value-added mobile services), and unified messaging.

Orange Communications SA
On 29 May 1998, Orange Communications SA, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, received a licence to set up and operate a GSM 1800 MHz mobile communications network from the Swiss Ministry for Communication (BAKOM) via Comcom (Communications Commission). Orange is the third and youngest mobile communications network in Switzerland. On 29 June 1999, Orange started with its Network Operation. In only the first nine months after starting up its operations, Orange succeeded in acquiring over 400,000 new customers. Orange Communications SA is a consortium comprising of founding partners, the British company Orange plc (42,5 % share), the German company VIAG AG (42,5%), The Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (10 %) and Swissphone AG (5 %). The corporate vision of Orange is that wirefree services will become the preferred personal communications tool for all communication needs. Its mission is to become the leading provider of high quality wirefree communications services to the people of Switzerland.

For further information, contact:
MATERNA Information & Communications, Press Office, Christine Siepe,
Vosskuhle 37, 44141 Dortmund, Germany
Phone (+49) 231 55 99-1 68, Fax -1 65,
E-Mail: [email protected], http://www.materna.com, http://www.annyway.com

Best regards,
Christine Siepe

MATERNA Information & Communications
Press Office Christine Siepe
Vosskuhle 37 Phone (+49) 231/55 99-168, Fax -165
44141 Dortmund E-Mail: [email protected]